He's known as the "Paedophile Hunter" - a self-styled British vigilante who traps sexual predators by posing as children online.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Stinson Hunter, 31, who calls himself an "undercover journalist" lures the predators to a meeting with the fake children, confronts them and films it, posting the footage online and handing it to police.
The footage often goes viral with the predator named and the full, disturbing chat logs also posted online.
Hunter, a former drug addict, claims to have caught more than 50 people and to have won 15 convictions, but his gotcha techniques have divided opinion.
One man, Michael Parkes, killed himself after he thought he was going to the house of a 12-year-old girl and was confronted by Hunter and his camera.
But that hasn't stopped Hunter's new crowd-funding campaign, launched after a controversial documentary about his operation was aired in Britain this week.
Hunter's project on Kickstarter surpassed its goal of £10,000 ($18,000) in less than 12 hours and had reached £23,000 by early on Friday.
"Our original goals have been hit; the lack of internet safety for our children has been brought to the attention of not only you, but the media and the authorities, we have been labelled as vigilantes of the cyber era; risking life and limb to protect the public," a statement on the fund-raising page says.
His plans are vague but involve making an online safety program, documentaries, a feature-length film and exploring other areas in the news that "may be being buried by the wider media".
"It's time for a change, no more ignorance of the subjects that really hit home. This is an age of tolerance, when it should be time to expose the shocking truth of what's happening right on your doorstep," the statement says.
#thepaedophilehunter makes me realise how crazy society is - a normal guy does the sort of thing the police can't be arsed to do! Amazing. — Adam Williams (@mummysboy29)
October 1, 2014
This Paedophile Hunter on
@Channel4 is madness. Get a job and leave it to the professionals, it's one massive ego boost for him. — Dan Heley (@DanHeley1)
October 1, 2014
Hunter isn't the first to engage in anti-paedophile internet vigilantism.
The US-based organisation Perverted-Justice uses volunteers to carry out similar sting operations, and the Australian organisation MAKO lists Australian sex offenders and their last-known locations.
A NSW Police spokesman said detectives had not seen any vigilantes comparable to Hunter and strongly discouraged people from conducting similar operations.
"The Sex Crimes Squad's Child Exploitation Internet Unit undertakes regular covert online investigations in order to track down, arrest and charge anyone engaged in the online grooming of children," the spokesman said.
"Any crimes committed against children are serious offences that need to be investigated and managed by trained detectives. If anyone has information relating to online child grooming, they should report it to police, not conduct their own investigation."
